S.M.A.C.K.

The origin story of a simple unifying productivity principle

Thanks to a steady diet of self-improvement and Twitter, I came up with a little thing.

I’ve always said that if I ever run out of ideas, I’ll know I’m done. Fortunately, I’ve never run out of ideas.

Unfortunately, I have too many ideas. 

And while I’m spooling up here, I have a question: does anyone have a recommendation for a good waterproof (but slim) phone case? I ask because I get all my ideas in the shower, and that’s a terrible place for a phone. By the time I towel off and go to write down those ideas, they’ve gone down the drain like the last of my hair.

(Apologies for any visuals here…)

In the last several months I’ve been planning, scheming, and wherever possible, building. I’ve written about it recently. Bottom line: I exhausted myself with trying to fit it all in, and so I went the other direction: I reduced. Hard. I slashed and cut. I slaughtered darlings like a wannabe Jedi Master takes out younglings. I had to admit it, finally, after decades of trying: I can’t do all of it—the side hustles, the frantic scheduling, the daily To Dos hierarchically organized by daily recurring, weekly recurring, “occasional” and short, mid, and long-term goals, all sorted through an intricate task automation system…

I had hit the wall like a crash test dummy.